Ungoth's page

My recollection is likely skewed, but this thread sparked a memory. Back in the halcyon days of twenty 'aught two, the Book of Vile Darkness had just come out and as an owner of the original Tome of Horrors hardback, I asked Necromancer Games the question of duplicate demon lords and varying statistics between the two publications. I seem to remember Necromancer Games mentioning that prior to the publication of ToH, they reached an agreement with Wizards of the Coast allowing them to go ahead with some key monsters and personalities from previous editions of D&D.

I believe this agreement stemmed from WotC's desire to not explore those key creatures and personalities for 3rd edition D&D or something, and Necromancer Games were very keen to see these old school factors not only survive into 3rd edition, but prosper. I guess at some point, Wizards changed their mind and went ahead with their own versions.

NOTE: I have no way of backing this up and my memory is not what it used to be. I am sure Clark P. or Bill W. could answer this for you.

Hi Paizo,

I feel kinda bad for commenting and I don't want to complicate things for you guys; you do a great job.

I wanted to highlight some water damage that has occured to Pathfinder #44. Only the first 10 pages were stuck together and I managed to pry them apart with only minor damage.

So no real harm done, but I'd like to minimize such instances as much as possible. Thinking about it, I believe that this what may have happened with Pathfinder #40 (Order #1574047).

Is there any chance that I might be able to get future Adventure Path Subscription issues sent in one of those slim boxes you normally reserve for multiple orders, instead of a cardboard envelope? I find that when things arrive in a box, there is less wear on the innards, particularly from the weather.

Thanks for your time and I abide by whatever decision is made.

seekerofshadowlight wrote:

As far as I count, they died when they stopped printing them. This news does not shock me and is not unexpected.

+1

Doesn't affect me in the slightest.

+1 for me, too.

For creepy stuff, I cannot go past the Thief: Deadly Shadows Offical Soundtrack.
It is atmospheric and ominous; working well when reading flavor text. I played Deadly Shadows some years ago, and memories of the Shalebridge Cradle still gives me chills.

The best thing is that the music is not intrusive.
Some of my favorites are:

Wow, katana lightsaber - surely the world would explode from the sheer awesomeness?

You talk as if it had *never* been considered!

EDIT: Oop! Even better! Check this Awesomesauce out.

On the same theme as yours, Korean Americans make great school girl army girls / strippers. But Australians also make great ... pants-less paladins?

(images are semi-safe for work ... or not)

Hmm, Australian, pants-less pally or not, she appears as if she wants to lose, owing to the fact she brought a bastard sword to a katana fight. My money is on pouty Ms Browning.

Maybe if the pally got a katana lightsaber...?

japanese schoolgirls by far make the best ninja. especially with twin katana. Seifuku Top, Sukumizu, Katana, Cat Ears, Loli, Zettai Ryouiki, Glasses, Japanese Schoolgirl, Vampire plus ninja all together makes awesomeness. the ultimate loli assassin.

Oh my god, how wrong you are. Australians make the best schoolgirl ninjas:

Emily Browning in Suckerpunch.

Woot! I win teh fread!

Dude, someone stole my face. Stupid Hippeh!

"Hippeh? Is that some kinda leet-speaking balderdash that kids bring to their gaming tables nowadays? That tears it!" *twists ring on finger that looks suspiciously like a ring of three wishes*

"Take that!"

*Three Githyanki Fighter/Wizards appear in a puff of sugary-pink smoke and stand around, looking confused*

"Consarn it! Where's my glasses?" *reads inscription on ring*

"My mistake, I have used my Ring of Three Gishes instead. Well at least their class makeup is correct; not some base-class tomfoolery!"

*The Gish still stand there, waiting for something to happen*

"Well don't just stand there like a bunch of slack-jawed astral yokels! Attack !!!!1111!!"

Just sayin' is all.

Besides, since Gish is synonymous with githyanki, it is therefore not Pathfinder-centric or OGL for that matter. Shame on you all! Everyone, please do the right thing and report yourselves to Wizards of the Coast for a copy of their standard cease and desist letter.

Mark my words, you whippersnappers; if there are too many base classes, multi-classing will break. And where will you be then? *pokes you with walking stick* Not old school anymore! Bah! Its like I've always said: If it is not in the Core Rulebook; it not showin' its ugly face in any game hereabouts!

...or thereabouts!

...and get off my lawn, ya punk kids!

I wish for a ka'kari.

Granted!

I wish for someone to alter time, speed up the harvest or teleport me off this rock.

That is what I am saying. I do not whine (much) about the situation. I do snark, maybe that is the same thing.

I accept that I am the only one that can do anything about it. I am exactly where I am because of the choices I made.

I do appreciate the sentiment, Taig. I do find it a little sad I do not have any close friends near by that I can talk to. All my old Army buddies, the ones I consider close friends, are several hours away. Some in different states. I do not feel comfortable airing my dirty laundry to my acquaintances. Sometimes, it is easier to open up to sympathetic strangers.

I left the Navy back in 2001, though my closest friend lives maybe less than 30 mins drive away, it is sometimes awkward to catch him at an opportune time to talk. It is also hard trying to open up sometimes, especially if all you have is a voice on the other end of a line. Like you, I have a number of acquaintances, but to me, they are easy come, easy go in that regard.

If you want to discuss at something at length I am happy to try and help. I am not sure if I am able to post an email address here, but I am not one to chance the wrath of the indomitable Vic Wertz (and by indomitable, I mean unconquerable, invincible or untouchable, not stubborn). As Ungoth is an alias, I am sure you can find the real me. That is your google challenge for today: Give me an ego trip the size of the Jersey Turn-Pike.

Hey CF, I'll share and hope that it helps.
I got married to a great girl when I was 23. I think the problem my end was that I raced into a commitment that I was not ready for, nor did I fully understand what marriage means to other people. Ultimately I felt alone and I needed someone. When someone did show an interest in me, I latched on tightly. Things were great because I always had someone I could go home to for a short period (I was in the military and was away for up to 6 months of the year). When I got out of the military, i had a steady job and was home all the time. We were at each others throats constantly. Whilst we loved the concept of being a married couple, things just didn't work. We'd fight over the stupidest little things and then a symptom of that was the gradual decline of an intimate relationship. She bought two cats that saw more love than what I got - I was coming a distant third in that respect. What had been something fantastic had withered into a vile existence that I was too afraid to get out of.

I was too worried what other people were going to think if I divorced her.

At one point we had a trial separation but we got back together because of the same thing reared its head; I capitulated because I was lonely. I gave in and promised to be a better husband, which just meant that I had to shut up and only do couple things as well as pander to her idiosyncrasies.

Thing is, I gladly went back to that because I had come to the revelation that 'This is as good as it gets.' Resentment builds as it often does; I'd blow up, she'd throw stuff and I'd walk out. Rinse and repeat. These were over little things like wanting my own bank account or credit card, stuff like that. In the bedroom, things just stopped happening altogether. The day I realised I wanted out was a winter's day. We bought a heater during a long cold snap. It was the last one in the store and also the display model. I dislike display models and I didn’t want to get it. Naturally, I was glared at and berated in private. Imagine my surprise when we took it home and it didn't work.
I said: I told you so.
She said: So it doesn't work. Boo effing hoo: Why don’t you go kill yourself!?'

A chill settled on me then. I didn't talk to her for two weeks. She knew that she had crossed a line. I suffer from depression from time to time.

So this goes on for a few years, as I was still afraid of what other people were thinking. One day, I met a fantastic person, of course a girl. I can see that she is interested in me, so what the hell can I do? Do I have an affair? No, that isn’t right. Do I dump all this baggage on her? No, that is not right either. It is not her burden to bear.

And I didn't want to be relationship hopping. That is not solving my problem of being alone and being worried about what other people think.

So I manned up.

I told my wife that it was over. The pain on her face stays with me today. It is like experiencing the death of a loved one.
I moved into my own place for six months; it was hard, but it helped having a flatmate to keep me on the level. On weekends I went on camping trips, hikes and learnt to be a more self sufficient. It helped a lot. I played it cool with the girl and I asked her out after six months. She said yes.

That was six years ago last May, we are still together. I am turning 37 at the end of the year. I am confident enough to say that I am learning more about me as life goes on. My partner encourages me to do the things that I want to do, as long as we leave room for her to do the thing that she wants to do as well. We discuss compromise and respect each other. Of course nobody is perfect and during those times, we talk things through like adults. I respect her opinion and she respects mine. As humans do, we fail, we get angry or frustrated, but we work through it. It is easy, not because we have to work hard at it, but because we are compatible in that way. I can also confidently say we would not be together if we weren't.

If I am ever going to pass on anything to my children and grandchildren (which I can actually imagine having now) it would be to 'Follow your heart.' In my experience, I am glad that I did. Though Mr Global Recession has had me out of work since last year, I have turned my self-sufficiency to full time-writing. I'll let you know how that turns out one day ;)

I filed for divorce a few years ago. Happily, we have had an amicable separation and dissolution of marriage. We met for coffee a little while ago and she apologised for being so overbearing and abusive. I apologised for my own part and not taking responsibility sooner.

To end this post on an up-note: We love making fun of kitsch things by doing them. We have nearly completed our tour of regional New South Wales Chinese restaurants (where forks are common eating utensils --you have to ask for Chopsticks) where we get dressed up to the nines and opt to eat in while mingling with locals in tracksuit pants (sweatpants) ordering take-away Lemon Chicken.

One day, we'd both like to fly to Vegas and get married by an Elvis impersonator who's real name is Billy-Bob. I have asked to go to Gen Con for our honeymoon (not that that is kitsch, just plain crazy). We then have to somehow work in Route 66 as well.

So I am not going to offer you advice CF. Yours is your own life. We are here if you want to talk.

The problems with feinting include:

It relies on the same stand there and slog it out with the enemy in melee position as Two weapon fighting, even with improved feint.

Without improved feint, you only get 1 attack every 2 rounds, and even with improved feint you can only perform 1 attack per round.

It does way less damage than a decent two weapon fighting(or even 1 weapon fighting) build with a halfway decent party.

Opposition(in 3.5 anyway) gets their BAB as a bonus to Sense Motive attempts, so even if you bend over backwards to increase bluff, every melee class gets a scaled bonus to defend against it to various degrees.

Also, dropping Two Weapon Defense would be smart, since it adds basically nothing. A good feat would be Savvy Rogue from Complete Scoundrel, if you plan to take any of the Advanced Rogue Talents(and you should, some are very good).

The build was Pathfinder RPG I believed, I am unaware if the OP's uses the Complete books. What I was trying to work with his apparent play style of a swashbuckler.

To underline what I was trying to say before; I wanted my original post's point to be about versatility in keeping with being a rogue, not a strict shot rotation he must adhere to. Granted, twin-weapon fighting will churn out comparitively more damage when the OP faces a standard foe, but when he faces a foe with Damage Reduction (a Pathfinder Skeleton or Zombie will suffice in terms of meeting criteria as undead susceptible to sneak attack), DR5/bludgeoning and/or DR5/Slashing are going to make a mockery of his multiple, piercing attacks at low level unless his adds are comparitively high enough or he has an appropriate weapon to mitigate it. In terms of versatility, I am sure he can keep twin maces and twin sabers flapping at his belt for just such an occasion, toy with Power Attack if he has the feat, or he could feint and make one sneak attack with the rapier he already has in hand.

Not sure about this.

My 2-weapon fighting Rogue2/Fighter1 character used Charisma for his dump stat, so any chance of feinting an enemy is not that good.

Furthermore, taking a standard action to bluff prevents me from attacking. Heck, even the move action still required after taking Improved Feint would get in the way of the full-attack required to use my 2 weapons.

Finally my sneak attack does not do that much damage (from being at lower levels AND adding Fighter levels).

I did not do the exact math, but I have the feeling that in such a config, feinting is in fact counter-productive, as the sneak attack damage you can get once in a while does not make up for the normal damage of all the attacks you gave up to feint.

IMO, feinting should be reserved to Charisma-based Rogues who are already good at bluffing. Not to fighting-type Rogues wielding two weapons.

Being counter-productive is really a matter of personal opinion on how a roguish character is played. But that was where I was going: Improved feint makes it into a move action, allowing you to sneak attack on your very next standard action (which I would have thought would have been appealing to a character who prefers to face his opponents head-on instead of flanking or sneaking), but each time you do it, you are -of course- denied the use of a full attack (plus one attack for your off hand) if you do. To me, it sounds like two weapons and standing toe-to-toe with your adversary is more important to you than actual sneak attack at this stage, but I think you wanted the Rogue class for its versatility --which brings me to the second point:

Rogues come in all shapes and are nothing if not versatile. The DM may throw the players a curve-ball at some point (steal your favorite weapons, has you grappled, or pinned, or swallowed by a gigantic creature, facing an opponent with insane DR --where sneak attack has it in spades over multiple attacks--, or even having all the spellcasters knocked out and you desperately need a Fireball from a wand, for example) and the Rogue needs to be ready for it when it happens, because that's when they shine.

I am chiming in here very late, so please take this with the grain of salt it deserves. There are some very good points and suggestions here and I only seek to add to that:

1. Twin Weapon Fighting still needs a Rogue --or anyone for that matter-- using his full-round action to benefit from the extra attack, which means a Rogue generally standing in one spot to do so. To quote this post, even a Rogue with D8 HP are still not going to stand up long against another fighter-type. There have been a number of posts regarding fighter levels: I fully support them if you want a Rogue who can go toe-to-toe with a bruiser.

2. Don't forget to overuse Bluff at lower levels. Using Bluff to feint in combat (thus denying an opponent his dex bonus) is your friend.

Yep, day is good with me.

I think we settled on The Royal Exhibition Hotel, Chalmers Street Surry Hills (opposite the entrance to Central Station, corner Devonshire Street).

Hey, I saw that there are gamers meeting at a *pub* on Sunday in late June.

And did someone mention PF Society? Can anyone show up to this?

(Well when I say 'anyone' I don't just mean *aaaaanyone*, I actually mean me: I even have dice.)